Israeli
Impunity and International Double Standards
Media coverage of the suppressive
military junta in Burma recently went into overdrive for a couple of
weeks. Burma became, temporarily, the
new international hot spot, with tens of thousands of print articles and hours
of television and radio coverage on the situation there. According to most media reports, anywhere
from one to five people were killed during recent protests, with some media
sources claiming the figure could be much higher.
During the same two-week period,
nine Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip were killed as the direct result of
Israeli government actions, and the situation in Gaza continued to
deteriorate. Tens of thousands of Palestinians
have been killed by the Israeli military over 40 years of occupation, and yet
not only does the media not report on this but it
never condemns the Israeli “junta”. This
is a blatant double standard, which, not surprisingly, is fully endorsed and
promoted by U.S. imperialism.
Since July, through its military
presence at all border crossings Israel has restricted all movement in and out
of the Gaza Strip, imprisoning the 1.5 million inhabitants and doing everything within its power to create a humanitarian
crisis. On September 19, the Israeli
cabinet declared Gaza to be an “enemy entity” and began escalating its pressure
on the population.
On October 3, the United Nations
once again expressed concern over the state of border crossings into the Gaza
Strip, after Israeli officials threatened to increase restrictions on the
movement of humanitarian aid. The
restriction threats follow an announcement by Israeli military officials that
they had intelligence suggesting border crossings into Gaza were going to be
targeted by Hamas.
A statement issued by the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said: “In the last three months, the arrival of 106
truckloads of supplies per working day has ensured that there has not been a
humanitarian crisis among the Gazan population. This could not be guaranteed with increased
restrictions on the border crossings.”
The OCHA noted that in the first week of July 61 trucks belonging to
non-government organizations (NGO) made it into Gaza, carrying mostly food and
basic supplies such as soap, bandages and diapers. In the first week of
September only 33 NGO trucks were let in and by the final week of September the
Israeli military allowed only five trucks carrying humanitarian assistance to
enter the Gaza strip. “The noose is
tightening around Gaza”, media reports quote one NGO worker as saying.
There is a severe shortage of all
medical supplies within Gaza and residents who had planned to travel to Egypt
or Jordan for serious medical concerns have been told they will not be allowed
to leave. In addition, the dwindling number of aid trucks means that food
supplies within the Gaza strip are at critically low levels, while prices are
skyrocketing.
Speaking to reporters, Kirstie Campbell of the UN World Food Program said, “there is an immediate need for better efforts by all sides
to increase the flow of supplies to at least basic humanitarian levels and to
ensure that the crossings remain open so as many supplies as possible can get
in. The one and half million people in
Gaza need more than what's getting in right now."